Telford bricklayer who collapsed while walking with friend 'died of natural causes'

A 36-year-old bricklayer who was walking with a friend in Telford collapsed and died two hours later in hospital, an inquest has heard.

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Richard James Brassington, of Woodside, Telford, collapsed in Waverley and was pronounced dead at Princess Royal Hospital on August 18.

An inquest into his death at Shirehall on Wednesday, heard how Mr Brassington had used heroin and cocaine in the past, and coroner John Ellery concluded that Mr Brassington died from natural causes that was contributed to by intravenous drug use.

Mr Ellery read a statement from a friend, Ian Bevan, who had been walking with Mr Brassington on the morning of August 18.

Mr Bevan said: "I was going to my brothers house and decided to walk part of the way with him. After a couple of minutes he complained he felt dizzy and an abscess on the top of his leg was aggravating him."

At this point, at 8am, he collapsed and was taken to the Princess Royal Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10.23am.

In a statement that was read out, Dr Ellen Cobby, who carried out the post mortem said Mr Brassington had a history of intravenous drug use.

She gave a cause of pulmonary thromboembolism, caused by deep vein thrombosis.

Mr Ellery said there was a need for the inquest because of the link to intravenous drug use, and recorded a conclusion of natural causes, contributed to, but not caused by intravenous drug use.